06/22/2019

Valentino Ty Beanie Baby in the Spotlight

Valentino is another Ty Beanie Baby that has made some of the “rarest” beanie baby lists online.  The problem is that these lists show the wrong generation and have grossly overvalued it.All Ty Valentino Beanie Babies have a brown nose.  A black nose would be very odd.   The errors quoted online are absurd and do not add value.  KR on the tush tag does not mean made in Korea.  The KR is part of the patent info.   If it was made in Korea it would say Made In Korea.  The year dates being different on the tush vs. the inside of the swing tag is normal.  One is the birthday and the other is the copyright date.  There are punctuation & spacing issues.  These were printed in the millions and do not add any value. A 4th generation Valentino can go anywhere from $2 – $15.  In non mint condition the value falls to a $1.

A 5th generation Valentino has this tag :

A 4th generation Valentino has this tag :The tush tag looks like this: A 3rd generation Valentino can go anywhere from $35 – $70.  Collectors prefer the 1st gen tush tags and will pay a bit more for them.  In non mint condition the value falls to $12 – $30.   A 3rd generation Valentino has this tag :This tag can go with either of these tushes : 2nd Gen Valentino is one of the most underrated Beanie Babies, probably because it came in later generations. An authenticated MWMT MQ 2nd Gen Valentino recently sold for $700.  If it is not perfect with perfect tags the value falls to around $160 – $220.  The tags look like this : There are different versions of 2nd , 3rd  and 4th gen swing tags.  We will not get into that now since it will only confuse things for people seeking out basic information. So where is all of this misinformation coming from?  In 2014 (some say 2013) a list of rare beanies appeared on a click bait “news” site.   The information spread like wildfire amongst resellers who do not know the hobby. Every few months a new list comes out from some website trying to get easy click bait traffic.  They change a few details, change out a few Beanies and get it 99% wrong.   Some have even added the McDonald’s Teenie Beanies with the cardboard packaging like the International Bears. So why do we see alleged high dollar “sales” on ebay?  First, we have to separate what looks sold from what sellers are asking.  Sellers can ask whatever they want.  The high dollar asking prices are from people who believe what they read on the internet.  You know, because everything you read on it is true. The alleged “sold” prices are a different matter.  They usually fall into 5 different categories.

  • Seller sets up a “fake” sale and has someone “buy” it to keep the rumors going. Remember, payment does not have to be made for it to show sold.
  • Vigilante bidders trying to teach the seller a lesson. This can only happen if the seller has “make an offer” or doesn’t have instant payment required.  The buyer never pays. Our understanding of this is twofold.  One, to the the item off the market.  Two, hoping that the seller has to pay final value fees before filing non paying bidder.
  • Money laundering – yes, it happens. Don’t understand it?  Watch Breaking Bad.
  • Black market items – this is a new one that has been passed around from collectors of other items. We have no idea how that works or if it’s been proven.
  • Buyer scams

So, let’s take a look at some high prices and dig into the details.The above is an auction style listing with best offer.  Looks like it sold for $17, 600.The seller has never sold.  1 feedback from buying.The buyer is new with low feedback. This is a vigilante buyer.   He/she is hitting multiple sellers : Next :Looks like it sold for $13,500.0 feedback new seller and it’s been relisted.What do we have here?  Same vigilante bidder as the first example.  Sale never happened. Next:Looks like $7990.What?  Low feedback seller and it’s been relisted.  No sale.  Let’s check out the bidder.Low feedback buyer.  No recent activity.  More than likely has been shut down by eBbay but not yet suspended. Next:Looks like $5100.Relisted.  0 feedback seller.Vigilante bidder/buyer.  Sale never happened.  Many sellers about to get hit by this one. We could go on and on and on showing the sales that never happened.  Hopefully this is enough for any reasonable person to understand what is really going on. There ARE rare Beanies.  They just aren’t the Beanies listed in these articles.  The link shows some rares.  Happy Hunting !! Which Ty Beanie is the Rarest!

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